I teach on Governance, Civil Wars and Humanitarian practice and study collective political violence in West Africa, with particular interest in Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria and the Sahel.
An abundance of natural resources affect and often undermine healthy institution building and pol... more An abundance of natural resources affect and often undermine healthy institution building and policy making over time. Taking cases of apparent success and failure, the authors identify how historical legacy and agency interact to shape today's options. The analysis crosses continents with cases from Sub-Saharan Africa (Botswana, Niger and Nigeria) and Latin America (Bolivia, Chile and Peru). The contributors develop a comparative study, and explore the implications for sustainable development. This book will be an essential resource for all those who want to understand why development based on mining or oil often goes wrong, and why so many countries have not yet been able to transform this national wealth into the basis for sustained development. All concerned with public policy issues in the context of development will find this a thought-provoking and accessible text.
Understanding Political Violence offers crucial insights on processes damaging lives and polities... more Understanding Political Violence offers crucial insights on processes damaging lives and polities in a variety of places across the globe: in Africa, in Latin America, in South East Asia and in the Middle East. By adopting a rich, evidence-based micro-level perspective, the authors provide critical answers to these questions: Who are the perpetrators of political violence? How do they get organized? The book pays particular attention to unconventional combatants such as women and children and details the drivers of their violent mobilization. It also makes considerable theoretical advances in understanding the diversity of forms of organized violence and analyzing its dynamics. The volume's approach is two-pronged: It first details carefully the wide array of factors pushing individuals to embrace political violence, then studies their interactions within armed groups, as leaders or rank and file.
La présente étude cherche à lever certaines des lacunes de l'analyse microéconomique des relation... more La présente étude cherche à lever certaines des lacunes de l'analyse microéconomique des relations d'emploi du large « secteur informel » des économies en développement, considéré à tort comme un marché de type walrasien. S'appuyant sur une enquête menée auprès de travailleurs de la petite industrie abidjanaise, en Cote d'Ivoire, la thèse établit une taxonomie des relations d'emploi originale qui est ensuite analysée à l'aide des outils standard de la microéconomie. Cette démarche de vérification des modèles montre que les agents ne se comportent conformément aux prédictions de l'approche néo-classique que lorsque des circonstances sociales spécifiques sont réunies. Cette thèse met ainsi l'accent sur la nécessité d'articuler les approches économiques standard à l'analyse des contextes sociaux dans lesquels se dessinent les décisions des agents.
An abundance of natural resources affect and often undermine healthy institution building and pol... more An abundance of natural resources affect and often undermine healthy institution building and policy making over time. Taking cases of apparent success and failure, the authors identify how historical legacy and agency interact to shape today's options. The analysis crosses continents with cases from Sub-Saharan Africa (Botswana, Niger and Nigeria) and Latin America (Bolivia, Chile and Peru). The contributors develop a comparative study, and explore the implications for sustainable development. This book will be an essential resource for all those who want to understand why development based on mining or oil often goes wrong, and why so many countries have not yet been able to transform this national wealth into the basis for sustained development. All concerned with public policy issues in the context of development will find this a thought-provoking and accessible text.
Understanding Political Violence offers crucial insights on processes damaging lives and polities... more Understanding Political Violence offers crucial insights on processes damaging lives and polities in a variety of places across the globe: in Africa, in Latin America, in South East Asia and in the Middle East. By adopting a rich, evidence-based micro-level perspective, the authors provide critical answers to these questions: Who are the perpetrators of political violence? How do they get organized? The book pays particular attention to unconventional combatants such as women and children and details the drivers of their violent mobilization. It also makes considerable theoretical advances in understanding the diversity of forms of organized violence and analyzing its dynamics. The volume's approach is two-pronged: It first details carefully the wide array of factors pushing individuals to embrace political violence, then studies their interactions within armed groups, as leaders or rank and file.
La présente étude cherche à lever certaines des lacunes de l'analyse microéconomique des relation... more La présente étude cherche à lever certaines des lacunes de l'analyse microéconomique des relations d'emploi du large « secteur informel » des économies en développement, considéré à tort comme un marché de type walrasien. S'appuyant sur une enquête menée auprès de travailleurs de la petite industrie abidjanaise, en Cote d'Ivoire, la thèse établit une taxonomie des relations d'emploi originale qui est ensuite analysée à l'aide des outils standard de la microéconomie. Cette démarche de vérification des modèles montre que les agents ne se comportent conformément aux prédictions de l'approche néo-classique que lorsque des circonstances sociales spécifiques sont réunies. Cette thèse met ainsi l'accent sur la nécessité d'articuler les approches économiques standard à l'analyse des contextes sociaux dans lesquels se dessinent les décisions des agents.
An abundance of natural resources affect and often undermine healthy institution building and pol... more An abundance of natural resources affect and often undermine healthy institution building and policy making over time. Taking cases of apparent success and failure, the authors identify how historical legacy and agency interact to shape today's options. The analysis crosses continents with cases from Sub-Saharan Africa (Botswana, Niger and Nigeria) and Latin America (Bolivia, Chile and Peru). The contributors develop a comparative study, and explore the implications for sustainable development. This book will be an essential resource for all those who want to understand why development based on mining or oil often goes wrong, and why so many countries have not yet been able to transform this national wealth into the basis for sustained development. All concerned with public policy issues in the context of development will find this a thought-provoking and accessible text.
In recent years, violent insurgency has gripped the margins of Kenya, Mali and Nigeria. Militant ... more In recent years, violent insurgency has gripped the margins of Kenya, Mali and Nigeria. Militant Islamist groups have attacked civilian populations, state security personnel and political-administrative officials, spreading insecurity across large areas and exploiting the mistrust between societies at the margins and central authorities.
Just two days before the presidential transition took place in Nigeria and following the upswing of violence in Mali that is undermining the already fragile peace process, this timely debate organised in collaboration with the Institute of Development Studies, brought together an expert panel to examine the drivers of insurgent violence in Kenya, Mali and Nigeria.
Speakers: Dr Jeremy Lind, Institute of Development Studies (IDS); Caitriona Dowd, Armed Conflict Location & Event Dataset (ACLED); Aden Abdi, Conciliation Resources ; Dr Yvan Guichaoua, University of East Anglia; Bala Liman, SOAS. Chaired by Professor Stephen Chan, SOAS.
Et pourtant, ils communiquent. L'Etat islamique, Al-Qaida, Boko Haram : ces mouvements djihadiste... more Et pourtant, ils communiquent. L'Etat islamique, Al-Qaida, Boko Haram : ces mouvements djihadistes qui depuis quelques mois font régulièrement la Une de la presse mondiale ne se contentent pas de guerroyer. Ils font de la com', par le biais de vidéos et de journaux, pour magnifier leurs faits d'armes et leurs réalisations sur le terrain.
Que nous apprennent leurs messages sur eux, et sur les territoires qu'ils contrôlent ? Quelles sont dans cette propagande la part de vérité et la part de tromperie, si tant est qu'on puisse les distinguer ? Que nous apprennent enfin leurs messages sur les liens qu'ils entretiennent éventuellement entre eux ? Pour répondre à ces questions, nos invités sont David Thomson, journaliste à RFI et auteur de Les Français djihadistes (Les Arènes, 2014), et Yvan Guichaoua, enseignant-chercheur à l'université de East Anglia, spécialiste des groupes armés opérant au Sahel.
The South of Algeria belongs to the widely integrated Saharan political economy also composed of ... more The South of Algeria belongs to the widely integrated Saharan political economy also composed of large chunks of the Malian and Nigerian territories. As such, Algeria plays a key role in the livelihoods (through licit or illicit means), and geographical social and political mobility of Sahelian communities, using borders as resources and connected to each other through transnational networks. But Algeria is also a powerful hegemon trying to protect its domestic and regional interests in an environment where political tensions and rivalries abound: protracted Western Sahara conflict, French military deployment at Algeria’s doorstep, highly mobile Jihadist units - remnants of the Algerian civil war. As a result, Sahelian narratives on Algeria are alternatively framed through the limited experiences of participants of the Saharan political economy or through discourses produced by biased, sometimes conspirationist, decision-makers and diplomats with varying allegiances. A kaleidoscopic and intellectually frustrating image of Algeria results, whose verifiability is highly problematic. Dr Yvan Guichaoua will examine the role of Algeria in recent (Tuareg then Jihadist) insurgencies in Mali and Niger as portrayed by various actors of the political crises in the Sahel. Imad Mesdoua will be examining the rationales guiding Algerian foreign policy in light of growing instability throughout the Sahel and Maghreb regions. Prior to French intervention in Mali, there was a general sense in the West that Algeria would, as a regional power, ultimately contribute or even spearhead a potential military intervention. In the end, Algeria did not participate in the French operation, and Imad seeks to explain why this was the case. He will also examine whether Algeria's regional security policy, partly focused on countering al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s (AQIM) growing influence in neighboring states, has been a success.
Yvan Guichaoua is a lecturer in International Politics at the University of East Anglia. He is a former teaching fellow at Yale University and research officer at the University of Oxford. He has been studying the dynamics of irregular armed groups in Sub-Saharan African since 2004. Since 2007, Yvan Guichaoua has been studying insurgencies in Niger and Mali and the rise of Jihadism in the Sahel. His work explores the complex interactions between violent entrepreneurs, low level combatants and the state and forms of governance they produce. Yvan Guichaoua is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters, and the editor of Understanding Collective Political Violence and co-editor of The Developmental Challenges of Mining and Oil (Palgrave-Macmillan).
Imad Mesdoua is an Algerian political analyst specialising in the Middle East and North Africa. He has previously worked as a freelance journalist and as a political consultant, advising political officials and international organisations. He regularly provides on-air analysis as a guest commentator for the BBC, Al Jazeera and France 24.
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Books by Yvan Guichaoua
For a review in French (in Afrique Contemporaine):
http://www.cairn.info/revue-afrique-contemporaine-2012-2-page-123.htm
Papers by Yvan Guichaoua
For a review in French (in Afrique Contemporaine):
http://www.cairn.info/revue-afrique-contemporaine-2012-2-page-123.htm
Just two days before the presidential transition took place in Nigeria and following the upswing of violence in Mali that is undermining the already fragile peace process, this timely debate organised in collaboration with the Institute of Development Studies, brought together an expert panel to examine the drivers of insurgent violence in Kenya, Mali and Nigeria.
Speakers: Dr Jeremy Lind, Institute of Development Studies (IDS); Caitriona Dowd, Armed Conflict Location & Event Dataset (ACLED); Aden Abdi, Conciliation Resources ; Dr Yvan Guichaoua, University of East Anglia; Bala Liman, SOAS. Chaired by Professor Stephen Chan, SOAS.
Que nous apprennent leurs messages sur eux, et sur les territoires qu'ils contrôlent ? Quelles sont dans cette propagande la part de vérité et la part de tromperie, si tant est qu'on puisse les distinguer ? Que nous apprennent enfin leurs messages sur les liens qu'ils entretiennent éventuellement entre eux ? Pour répondre à ces questions, nos invités sont David Thomson, journaliste à RFI et auteur de Les Français djihadistes (Les Arènes, 2014), et Yvan Guichaoua, enseignant-chercheur à l'université de East Anglia, spécialiste des groupes armés opérant au Sahel.
Yvan Guichaoua is a lecturer in International Politics at the University of East Anglia. He is a former teaching fellow at Yale University and research officer at the University of Oxford. He has been studying the dynamics of irregular armed groups in Sub-Saharan African since 2004. Since 2007, Yvan Guichaoua has been studying insurgencies in Niger and Mali and the rise of Jihadism in the Sahel. His work explores the complex interactions between violent entrepreneurs, low level combatants and the state and forms of governance they produce. Yvan Guichaoua is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters, and the editor of Understanding Collective Political Violence and co-editor of The Developmental Challenges of Mining and Oil (Palgrave-Macmillan).
Imad Mesdoua is an Algerian political analyst specialising in the Middle East and North Africa. He has previously worked as a freelance journalist and as a political consultant, advising political officials and international organisations. He regularly provides on-air analysis as a guest commentator for the BBC, Al Jazeera and France 24.